[Supernaut]

I have just bought two pairs of formula mega brakes, one for me and one for the missus. I decided on these brakes after reading lots of rave reviews on the interwebs, and because i couldn`t get the new saints at the time. (Out of stock.)

I was really looking forward to trying these brakes, as i have heard that they are one of the most powerful brakes available, and with great modulation as well. But boy am i dissapointed. The lever feeling i ****e, and the power is lacking. I have bled them, rebled them, hung them overnight and bled them again; but no Great modulation, but sh*te power. In despair i also spent half an hour trying to bed them in on a steep hill. No luck.... as of right now these brakes are as bad as my old el caminos, the single worst brake i have ever ovned.

I just cant get myself to believe these brakes are that bad, so i keep thinking im doing something wrong when bleeding. I have tried formulas method, avids method and a mixture of both. No luck.

Any monkeys out there got any suggestions? Nothing pisses me of more than bad brakes, and they way this is going im gonna have a crappy season.

Fred

Edit:
After more or less giving up on these brakes, I decided to give it one more try using a different aproach on bleeding than the one provided by formula. And hey, im in one-finger braking heaven. Turns out all the air was trapped in the caliper, and applying vacuum to get it out only made things worse. I managed to get the trapped air out by pumping the pistons really far out, tapping the caliper while turning it around, and when i had pushed a lot of fluid trough the system, I pushed the pistons back out. This enabled me to get rid of (almost) all the pesky air. The rear now feels like its been bled by god, and the front is slowly getting there.

Kinda funny that the formula bleeding setup didnt work for me at all. Anyway, thank you to all everyone who posted in this thread to help find a solution. You guys rock.

Fred

 

[dropmachine]

Did you jam some mud into the caliper? That works soemtimes by scoring the pads and rotor at the same time. Just put some in there, and on the rotor, then get some speed up and feather on your brakes.

Won't hurt anyways.

 

[IH8Rice]

The lever feeling i ****e,

what curse words ends in a E?

 

[dropmachine]

sh i t e

 

[jvnixon]

are you using formula rotors?

 

[Biffff]

I have The Ones, and used a trick that works giving them a better feel at the lever.
When bleeding the lever, push fluid back into the lever before disconnecting the cyringe. I found if you just dissconnected the cyringe there is such a strong vacume, and a bunch of air gets sucked into the system. This fixes that problem.
My brakes have run trouble free throught the entire lifespan of 2 sets of pads. I haven't lost lever like others when their pads are half worn out. My brakes have huge power and modulate much better then any other brake I've owned.
This should work for you as the Megas are very similar to the ones.

 

[Biffff]

also what pads came with your brakes? Maybe they came with an organic pad.........

 

[Kanye West]

When you bleed them, pay some extra attention to purging the caliper. Both the Mega and One calipers have quite a bit of crevaces for air to hide in the caliper casting.

 

[HAB]

How long have you been on them? The pads take a while to bed in, and they suck until they have. You might just need to use them a little more.

 

[gixme]

My Megas have been a frustration too. The front one came around and has plenty of power but the rear hasn't yet. I just ordered some new pads because I believe the rear one is contaminated with brake fluid after bleeding and now won't stop squealing. Do a search on MTBR, there have been lots of discussions about ONEs/Megas. One tip that is no in the manual is how to firm up the lever feel. Take the wheel/rotor off, squeeze the lever once or twice and replace the wheel. That should firm it up.

 

[Supernaut]

Thanks a million guys, i have read most of the treads on the subject, both here and on mtbr. I thought the brakes came standard with sintered pads, but i could be wrong. I ordered a couple of spare sets of sintered pads with the brakes, will try them tomorrow morning. I havent tried the mud in the rotors trick either, havent done that in years

I have heard people complaining about air bein stuck in the MC so i have focused most on my bleeding on this point, will give the caliper some extra attention on my next try, and see how i goes.

Am i right in assuming that these brakes when set up correctly should have a slightly more spongy lever feel than codes, but with more modulation and the same\more power?

Fred

 

[Supernaut]

jvnixon: yes i am using brand new formula rotors. Not complaining to much about the engagement point. The lack of power is my problem.

Fred

 

[Kanye West]

They'll have a bit more throw, but they should firm up. Meaning, they should not come back to the bar.

 

[gemini2k]

My ones always had a lot of lever throw, got a lot worse as pads wore. Even after bleeding them perfectly (after many many tries). Felt solid, but just took forever to engage, that's why I'm rocking codes now.

 

[gixme]

Should the Formula rotors matter? I am using Avid rotors and from what I have read many types of rotors seem to work fine with Formula brakes. Just curious because if they make that much of a difference I may bite the bullet and buy some.

 

[Supernaut]

so i should be able to almost pull them to the bar on hard braking, but not quite?
If this is the case i am suspecting something is up with my pads. I need a steep muddy ride, but being in Norway there is sh*itloads af snow ruining my plans.

Fred

 

[Kanye West]

Shouldn't be able to pull them that far with a good bleed.

The avid rotor won't matter if you bleed the brake to that rotor.

 

[gixme]

My understanding is that the bleed works best with the caliper removed. By "bleeding to that rotor" would that mean leaving the caliper on?

 

[gemini2k]

I tried both formula and avid rotors, didn't make a whole lot of difference, you could always just push in the pads to adjust for rotor width. Also you need to bleed it with a rotor on there. Formula gives you detailed instructions. when I get home tonight I'll uplaod some pics of the setup I used (and yielded a very good bleed)

 

[gixme]

That would be great. I used their updated instructions but any tips would help. I may as well bleed again with the bad pads on there before I change them. I do find the bleed process is very easy once you do it a couple of times.

 

[Supernaut]

gemini2k: some pics of your setup would be a great help. Thanks.

Oh, and i bleed them off the bike with the bleed screw on both caliper and MC facing up.

Fred.

 

[-C-]

I put a thread up earlier this year about mine, and the pad wear/lever throw issue. Since that I have bled them to death, chucked in new pads & they are like a new brake. I rode for the first time this weekend & they were so powerfull I was all over the place when riding. Overbraking into corners, nearly losing the front end etc. I've never had that before, so it took some getting used to!

So its a thumbs up from me after finally getting the bleed right. I guess they are just sensitive to pad wear, so I will have to stock up on some spares.

I'm not sure however, with the recent price hikes, i'd drop the amount of £££ on what they are now. No brake is worth that much. I only went with them as they were comparable in price to most of the other stuff at the time via a Euro based supplier...

 

[gixme]

-C-, are you using stock Formula sintered pads?

 

[Jonny5]

toronto bikes has sintered pads cheap. Yet to try them

 

[gixme]

I just bought some directly from Koolstop so I'm anxious to see how those work.

 

[Supernaut]

I think i finally got the rear working all right. Havent tested it on the trail yet, but first impressions are nice. Man these brakes are difficult to bleed, the front still suck balls. Might have glased the pads in an overly eager atempt at bedding them in. New pads and more bleeding tomorrow.

Contemplating about selling them and bying saints.....

Fred

 

[gemini2k]

I think what's key is pushing the fluid back and forth between the 2 syringes many many times. I found that to get a lot of the trapped air out of the system.

 

[eater]

what a disaster!! i got the same sh*t on my Formula THE ONE... changed to the new elixir CR, now i got more time to smile!!!

 

[-C-]

Gixme - yes, stock sintered pads...

 

[Eastern States Cup]

so the fittings for the Avid bleed kit fit ?

 

[gixme]

Yes, that's what I use too.

 

[gemini2k]

Yep, just use the avid bleed kit, and the instructions for the formula's are similar, but in their "updated" instructions they add a few pointers. And they seemed to work. I tried about 10-12 bleeds using the avid instructions, and they came out like crap most of the time (couldn't get reproducible bleeds, about 25-75 good-bad). But the first time using the formula crazy ass set up and modified instructions it turned out solid.

 

[buckoW]

After I bleed the brake with both syringes I take off the one on the caliper and then push pull the fluid in only the lever. While push pulling the fluid in and out of the lever I pull the lever blade in and out. I stop with a little too much fluid in the lever and put the bleed screw back on as quick as possible while the fluid is pouring out of the lever. Gives me a rock solid bleed in the One or the Mega.

 

[Udi]

Contemplating about selling them and bying saints...

Just spoke to three people doing runs today that are stoked with theirs. Mine were ridiculously powerful out of the box, even before bedding in I could pretty much lock either end with pinky fingers. I haven't bled them once (same with most of the other owners here), and if my previous experience with shimano is anything to go by, I'll probably never actually need to bleed them - maybe in two years I'll get bored and just do it for the sake of it.

Anyway, if you wanted a powerful, low maintenance brake, I think you should have waited for your first preference. Next time.

 

[Supernaut]

Just spoke to three people doing runs today that are stoked with theirs. Mine were ridiculously powerful out of the box, even before bedding in I could pretty much lock either end with pinky fingers. I haven't bled them once (same with most of the other owners here), and if my previous experience with shimano is anything to go by, I'll probably never actually need to bleed them - maybe in two years I'll get bored and just do it for the sake of it.

Anyway, if you wanted a powerful, low maintenance brake, I think you should have waited for your first preference. Next time.

I know, if i dont get them the way i want them during the next couple of days im selling them.

 

[tailwind]

Are you rotor's straight?

I get a wierd lever throw when my rotor is bent. Other than that, which is easily fixed, I haven't had any issues with my Mega's. Ran a full season with out having to bleed them.

 

[Huck Banzai]

My blahzay Juicy 7's and Codes -- was thinking of some 'spicy' brakes -- meh, they work, use em til they fail.

 

[Bicyclist]

Just spoke to three people doing runs today that are stoked with theirs. Mine were ridiculously powerful out of the box, even before bedding in I could pretty much lock either end with pinky fingers. I haven't bled them once (same with most of the other owners here), and if my previous experience with shimano is anything to go by, I'll probably never actually need to bleed them - maybe in two years I'll get bored and just do it for the sake of it.

Anyway, if you wanted a powerful, low maintenance brake, I think you should have waited for your first preference. Next time.

The only issue with Saints is that they are effectively vaporware at this point...I ordered Elixirs to tide me over simply because I didn't want to wait an indefinite amount of time to get Saints.

 

[Supernaut]

The only issue with Saints is that they are effectively vaporware at this point...I ordered Elixirs to tide me over simply because I didn't want to wait an indefinite amount of time to get Saints.

What youre saying is basically the root of my griefs. I cant get hold of saints, and my megas suck. The weird thing is that evereybody but me love the formulas.

-C-: how long did it take you to get a perfect bleed? I have spent somewhere around 1hr on each brake, and gotten good but no where near perfecgt results.
(Of the bike bleed per formulas instructions.) I have also noticed that just pushing fluid back and forth dosent do much at all. The combination of vacuum and flow seems to work best. ie pulling the fluid through and not pushing.

Fred.

 

[buckoW]

Hey Fred

Seriously try the method I mentioned above. Since I started doing it this way I can get a perfect bleed in under 5 minutes. I think you have air bubbles trapped in the lever. Once you figure out how to bleed them they are sweet.